But as staffers serving the homes get infected by Covid-19 or are quarantined, the city faces a “deadly” shortage of manpower. The department is now in touch with mainland authorities to directly hire 1,000 temporary staffers for three months. Subsidized care homes will be allowed to skip a four-week local recruitment before they apply to hire mainlanders as carers. Kenneth Chan Chi-yuk, chairman of the Elderly Services Association, said elderly centers face a crisis of manpower shortage. A carer can earn a monthly salary of up to HK$30,000 amid the current manpower shortage, he added.

Source: The Standard February 27, 2022 10:58 UTC